rant-o-matic, or: I want walkie-talkies!

so we got cell phones again, and they’re just as much of a pain in the ass as they were the last time we tried (for about a week last winter(?)) – the coverage is absolutely lousy out at the college; steilacoom doesn’t like cell towers. and they’re too small, too hard to hear in (I think I’m gradually going deaf), too many cords if I carry around the hands-free and the power cord. grumble. (and over $50/month is too damn much.)

we’ll probably be taking them back; maybe get blackberries or pagers, which would at least have the benefit of being cheaper.

but what I really want is just souped-up walkie talkies, so that C & I can ping each other from wherever, since we’re going to be spread across 2 & sometimes three counties, taking the bus, etc., etc. this fall. something cheap – I’d almost prefer text messaging over voice. which reminds me of something that I can’t remember where I saw it…about how voice-driven computing isn’t always a good idea. (much better, in class or a meeting, to type: get some tortillas on your way home than to say it!) and if it just connected two devices – nothing else – that would be fab. I don’t want to have a cell phone where everyone in creation has my number; I just want to tell my sweetie that I’m running late and he can wait another half-hour to come pick me up, or vice versa.

there was more to that rant this morning, but it’s dissipated over the day.

in an unrelated thought, I’m chewing over some of my past from someone else’s site. I may need to dig out the boxes of journals…I’m wondering if I should write something as well, another facet or something.

and a bluffer’s guide to web standards.

almost there.

but no internet at the new place yet, so very sparse blogging. I do have many days worth of linking goodness which I want to comment on. later, later, later. this has ever been my mantra. I so much want to write about all of this, but it just hasn’t been possible.

I’m tired, and tired of being tired. I ache. I miss cooking. it’s been too damn hot, though at least not raining. (I’ve moved in the rain a few times; it sux.) I’ve been too distracted at work, when I have too much to do. I keep forgetting shite. (speaking of which, I just called the trash company to get our old service shut off.) and everything costs too damn much money. I want my brain back and to get my life restarted.

rumor?

I heard a rumor that GM is buying out Daewoo and won’t be honoring existing warranties – I found proof on CNN that the deal exists, but nothing about warranties. Daewoo’s site looks normal, and there’s nothing about Daewoo on GM’s site one way or the other. anybody know anything? update, 7/26: finally called the dealer – no change to the existing warranty, but I’m glad we got all the paid-for maintenance (6000 mi. oil change, etc) out of the way, because they’re not going to pay for that anymore. feh.

did I say that I hate moving?

I can’t find my “action items” folder, i.e.: the manila folder that has all of my bills & stuff to do. I swear I just saw it, as I was tidying up papers, and now I can’t find it. that’s not good. (at least all the new bills – last week or so – were in a separate stack.) ugh, what a mess. I think some sleep might be in order, if I can manage it.

update, 5 minutes later: yeah, I’m a dork. it was on top of the microwave, which is sitting on the table where I usually review the contents of the action items folder. sheesh.

a little break

I’m giving myself a respite from packing/cleaning/moving. it’s going quite well, weirdly enough. a load of boxes in the wagon yesterday, and today was some small furniture & odds & ends. now I’m bringing out everything that’s left, all the weird little stuff, papers, journals…. the old house is starting to get that empty feel.

actually, yesterday was quite lovely. packing up the car took about 20 minutes, and when we got down, there was a jar of flowers & a handmade candle on the doorstop – other friends, later, gave us more flowers and a bottle of champagne, and we all stood around in the yard, drinking out of little plastic cups and talking about gardening. because we have the tallest apple tree I have ever seen, and it appears to be covered with apples. jeez. not to mention the pear tree(s?) and the blackberry bramble. (ah, that makes me feel nostalgic. when we moved into the house on Alameda, when I was seven, the whole back end of the lot was one gigantic bramble. of course, in that climate there wasn’t ever any fruit, whereas this bramble should produce a number of pies.)

met the neighbor with the interesting garden – very cool lady.

I realized today that the “drafts” tab in blogger pro sometimes works as a “blogclog” holding pen, esp. for sets of links. I have a couple there right now, which I’m waiting for some time to annotate & discuss. (I’m anticipating connecting the dots between Dorothea, Burningbird, and K on the very topic of blogging/journaling.)

okay, now back to it, for just a little longer before sleep.

(oh, and confidential to K, as Dear Abby (or Dan Savage) would say: I haven’t had time to dig out your hidden entry (?) – is it awful of me to be lazy & beg for a link? I promise to make no comment.)

likely downtime

well, we’ve signed all the papers, and on Monday we pick up keys. which means that now thru the end of July I will be cleaning, packing, moving, cleaning, etc., etc. which means that posting (and emailing) may be a bit light for a while.

but first have to admit to being very, very happy on being blogged by Dorothea – go read the other linked blog in that entry too; it’s totally worthwhile.

fyi, I did something similiar to the solution she came up with for “blogcloging” for a work project, using blogger. only I wish I’d thought of using stylesheets…I just did strange things with comment tags. hey, maybe I’ll go back to it and redo it with CSS.